The present invention relates to online services and databases that provide information and support for groups of people who share a common problem or interest. More specifically, the present invention relates to an online service with databases that provide information and support for persons who suffer from food allergies and/or food intolerance including celiac disease.
A food allergy is an abnormal response to the consumption of food triggered by the body's immune system. The most common food allergies relate to four food groups: milk/dairy products, wheat, nuts, and fish/shellfish. Food allergies affect 2% of adults and 6-8% of children in the U.S. (6-7 million people). Food intolerance is not caused by the immune system, but has symptoms similar to those of food allergies. The most common food intolerance conditions are lactose intolerance and gluten intolerance (celiac disease). Food intolerance affects 28% of the population the United States. 30 to 50 million Americans are lactose intolerant, while 1.2 to 3 million Americans suffer from celiac disease.
Those affected by a food allergy/intolerance must follow a special diet that includes special foods that are free of ingredients to which they are sensitive. Such special foods include those that are lactose-free, gluten-free and nut-free. But these special allergen-free foods are typically more expensive than common brands that are not free of allergens.
Under the tax code, the cost of special food products and food supplements, as well as food preparation devices, such as bread ovens, or food mixers, above the cost of common foods qualify as a medical deduction when they are prescribed by a physician or other health care professional for alleviation or treatment of an illness. The IRS allows tax deductions based on the difference between the price of allergen-free and non-allergen-free products where these differences together with other uninsured medical/dental expenses exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI). Incremental expenses associated with the purchase of allergen-free foods may also be credited against deductable limits of health insurance policies. But identifying, capturing, and calculating these incremental expenses can be too laborious, tedious and time-consuming for most people with food allergies/intolerances to pursue. In order to calculate the incremental food expense, one must not only track daily grocery expenditures in terms of allergen-free food purchases, but one must also somehow obtain the comparative cost of corresponding non-allergen-free foods that are not purchased.
Database tools that track allergen-free food purchases and calculate price differentials relative to comparable non-allergen free food products simply do not exist in the prior art. Kocher, International Pub. No. WO01/13317, teaches a method of scanning user food purchase data and utilizing a food allergy database to generate diet advisory reports based on the user's medical profile. But the Kocher method does not address incremental expenses associated with purchases of allergen-free food products. Nor does the system of Okubo, et al., Japanese Application No. JP2000/000182178, which extracts from a food database non-allergic products based on the user's input designating allergic ingredients. While these inventions are useful in selecting suitable food products based on a user's specific food allergy/intolerance, they are not helpful in capturing the incremental costs associated with the purchase of such special products.
The present invention provides a web site application comprising two databases—one database of allergen-free foods, and the other of the ‘normal’ food products. Based on a medical profile of food allergies and/or intolerances that the user inputs through secure access to the website, the system cross-references the two databases each time the user's grocery purchase data are entered and compares the cost of purchased allergen-free products to comparable non-allergen-free products. The incremental costs are calculated and compiled as year-to-date (YTD) tax deduction figures on a user-accessible website dashboard. The cost differentials can be also modified by region, zip code, or by store brand. At the end of the year, the user can print a report for his/her accountant showing the annual incremental expense of allergen-free foods and other food preparation devices or export the information to his/her tax preparation software.